Unofficial news and tips about Google

December 18, 2008

Chrome Undone

No, this is not a new version of Google's homepage, it's just a summary of the most aggressive promotion for a Google product. Now that it's out of beta, Google Chrome can be added to any software bundle, can be a part of any distribution deal and any promotion.

If Sun offers the option to install an entire office suite when you update JRE, why shouldn't Google use a popular software like Google Earth to drive adoption to Chrome? When you try to download Google Earth from Windows XP or Windows Vista, Google shows this completely unrelated page:

Google clearly displays that it will also install Chrome and users have the option to exclude Google Chrome, but Google assumes that most people will just click on "Agree and download" without reading the content of the page. Before bundling Chrome with Google Earth, Google used a trick to install the toolbar:

Microsoft's desperate attempts to promote Silverlight made the company to show an annoying invitation to "enhance your experience on Microsoft.com with Microsoft Silverlight" whenever you visit microsoft.com. There are many ways to annoy your users, but does it really worth it?